Deepa Nagam Subramanian, Class of 2008
Undergraduate: Emory University (Philosophy & Religion, with a minor in Violence Studies)
Career interest: Employment law; plans to join Fisher & Phillips in Atlanta after graduation in May 2008
Deepa Subramanian started law school interested in civil litigation. After taking Law of Work and Employment Discrimination from Professor Robert Belton, an expert in employment law, she decided to focus on employment law as a career.
She will join Fisher & Phillips, an Atlanta-based boutique firm that focuses on employment law, after she graduates in May 2008. Deepa received the job offer while she was in Tanzania, where she spent the fall semester of 2007 working for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
“I learned a lot about how to interview and what to look for in an employer by participating in on-campus interviews," she said. "I had interviewed with Fisher & Phillips at a job fair because I knew I wanted to do employment law. They contacted me with an offer while I was in Tanzania working on a case against a top military official who was being prosecuted for war crimes committed during the 1994 genocide."
Professor Mike Newton, whose International Law Lab Deepa took in the second semester of her 2L year, helped Deepa garner the semester-long internship with the International Criminal Tribunal. “In Tanzania, I was doing real legal work for real people, and I was able to genuinely affect the outcome, which was a wonderful experience during my 3L year,” Deepa said. “And it was also nice to know I was coming back to a job practicing in my area of interest. I’m from the Southeast, and Atlanta was always where I wanted to go."
During her 3L year, Deepa is taking courses that support her interest in employment law as well as in preparation for the bar exam. "I'm taking 17 credits this semester to make up for the semester in Tanzania," she said, "but also because there's a lot you can learn. I definitely did not expect classes to be as intriguing as they are, so keep an open mind!"
